914-V8 coolant system questions Options

[MM1]

To any of you current and former V8 conversion owners, I would appreciate your advice.

I’m nearing the end game of my coolant system overhaul (1965 Chevrolet stock, carbureted 283 in.³ V8) and I spoke with Don, the veteran at Renegade Hybrids, the other day for quite some time.

Don said he has done V8conversions on 914’s for 40 years.

He suggested two things for my current project:

1.) Cut two or three 1/8 inch holes into a 160° thermostat . I prefer to go with the OEM 180 and I’m wondering if I should cut one, two or three holes in it - my veteran Ford tech neighbor thought perhaps I should cut one ( he’s going to help me pressure test the system and then pull a vacuum to fill it if the radiator doesn’t leak after I removed those 30 year old hoses ).

2.) Burp the coolant system with the car nose down. Part of the reengineering/overhaul here is that I am adding Moroso expansion tank/coolant tank next to the engine as high as I can get it. The engine is actually nose down a bit so the Ford tech thinks that with the vacuum system we should be able to get every bit of air out of it but if we nose it down then maybe steam pockets or air will stay in the back of the heads since they are already higher than the front when the car is level on the ground.

Any thoughts/suggestions/experiences regarding the above?

Thank you all!

[914GT]

On my 350 SBC conversion I use a modified Dedenbear expansion tank with no thermostat. The electric water pump and fans run by a Davies Craig digital controller. During warm up the controller senses the temperature in the expansion tank and pulses the water pump on/off until it gets to operating temp then it runs the pump 100% duty cycle and controls the fans as needed. Initial fill up is easy. I bypass the controller to run the EWP full on while filling and have a bleeder screw at top of radiator until all air is purged. Also I open the heater valve so the pump can circulate through the heater core. I’ll raise the rear of the car up a bit to help bleed any air out of the lines under the car but I don’t think it’s really necessary. The expansion tank is already highest point in the system.
Guy